Chez

£2m a position in the league, so if there are any correlation between away support, performance and results then that could be a sizeable contribution to the clubs coffers. That said, I am not sure there is any correlation though.

I agree with you, they are a top 7 club, but just for balance they have finished 11th in last two seasons and have been top 7 in three of last six seasons.

We were linked with Wimmer a while back and I would guess we made enquires in the last window too, but with Vertongen out injured there would be no chance of Spurs letting him leave. He made noises about being unhappy at not getting games. There was a lot talk about him returning to FC Koln. I think he went to watch them and the press were all over it.

this

maybe Saints are waiting until they have fleeced as many fans as possible for £26 memberships before announcing there are 5000 extra tickets which will be available to non members. Or am I being too cynical?

it is and don't call me Shirley.

It's bloody hard not to get too low when we lose or too high when we win, but thats what some great years has done to saints fans. We have, in relative terms, been spoilt by some great football, players and teams in recent times. There was bound to be a drop off. It's been hard to readjust expectations, but we are a mid table kind of team right now, which considering the talent that has departed is not too shabby. That said, we have spent a few bob to replace that talent, so maybe we are pretty much the exact team you'd expect under the circumstances.

They will continue with members before opening it up as they can try to get a few more new memberships that way.

united haven't lost for god knows how long. We aren't going to be 3-0 up in the cup final.

any particular reason why?

Dangermouth does have a point in that you can perhaps take into account opposition when giving marks, but that works both ways. When we are up against say Chelsea in full flow and things don't go our way you'd need to not be as harsh with your marking. Not sure that is going to happen. He's also right to say we have played better at Burnely for example and not got the reward. That said Sunderland struggled because we didn't let them play. I disagree with he comments about Cedric. Janazi looked a handful, but when he earned half a yard Soares made sure he wasn't going to get away. Very solid display from him. I have no problem with giving low marks even if we win, but it wasn't a lucky underserved victory. With regards to JWP it feels like people have jumped on a bandwagon with him. I have been critical of him for years, but always with the caveat that he is young and needs time. I actually feel he has improved a lot this season. He's still got a long way to go, but he is starting to mature. Ok so there is a shed load of square passes, but even he knows he is being criticised for that and is trying to be more forward thinking. He had a steady game today. Nothing special, but equally not deserved of a 0.

What a great tonic and way to go into the cup final. After a terribly start we played well and could have won by more. What a difference getting that first goal makes. We ran Sunderland ragged ,won everything and passed the ball well. Romeu had another stormer and Gabbi's movement and link up play with Tadic was what we have been missing. The last few games have shown that we really are a mid table side. Fans ought to bare that in mind when a few results don't go our way. Sunderland are a poor side. United will be a different animal altogether. If we can just win this game in two weeks time the season can turn itself around massively.

As long as you pay the £26 ticket tax of course.

its simple: Get rid of membership. Paid queue jumping is bull****. Season ticket holders get priority. They pay up front, get little or no discount these days, yet risk losing out if they can't get to a game. So it make sense they get first dibs. Then after that, the priority goes to the those attending the most games including home and away during the season. Every season you start a fresh. Over complicating things with miles, specific cups, home, away...pointless. While I am at it, lets have £20 a ticket. Get rid of booking fees. Safe standing. Faster beer service. Improved kit design. Saturday 3pm kick offs...

I do not think that is exactly how it works. As I understand it the club usually gets to choose the allocation size they require from two or three options. The smallest allocation will be on a sale or return basis. Only if a larger allocation size is requested does the club have to commit to paying for that allocation, no matter if they sell all of the seats or not. So at Liverpool for example the initial allocation is usually about 1600 ish. You'd get those on a sale or return basis. If you wanted the 2500 allocation, any unsold seats would have to be paid for. Having been burned in the past, notably at Spurs many moons ago, the club tends to play it very safe - which makes sense.

that might be true, but no reason why fans should just roll over and accept being treated poorly.

spot on. Basically its like buying one of the VIP queue jumping tickets when you go to a theme park, which I think is bull****. As is always the case, the football business is squeezing every last penny out of the fans. ****e. How on earth can it be right that a fan that has been to 10 games (home and or away, what ever you choose) gets less priority than someone that has been to 5 and then buys a membership today? The club has cut its own throat though as there is no point paying for £26 queue jump before the season starts. Might as well wait and see if you actually need it for anything.

there are perhaps not many members. In my eyes there is zero reason to get a membership. Complete waste of money.

I get the feeling the estimates of membership numbers are way out. It might go to general sale.

The question I have is why are people standing up (and stewards at SMS not making people sit down) in the 3 rows immediately in front of the designated disabled areas as stated by the OP? If you stand up in those specific rows, you must know you are blocking the view of the disabled seating. It must be obvious, surely?

The landlord spent the last of the cleaning money on a `share'.

by counting all the green dots. Yes all of them.

like the laissez-faire approach. Answer is `yeah man'.

I count 7083 seats remaining, admittedly half of my count took place at lunchtime and the other half in the early evening, but at least it gives you a rough idea where we are at.

I fully expect this to be the case. I just don't know which one. I suspect both JRod and Long will be considering their options in the summer.